Davenports IPA Export Bitter (Bottled)

Brewed by Highgate (HWBC Ltd)
Style: Bitter
Walsall, England

Serve in English pint

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Bottle.A strange name, trying to capture as many styles as possible. Golden with a medium head.Quite hoppy with some bitterness although not enough to justify the IPA title. Looks like jumping on the band wagon but still quite reasonable.

June 2010: A lovely sunny Saturday afternoon drinking session started with this beer, poured into a ’Corsendonk’ badged stemmed tulip and a vase shaped ’Watzdorfer’ badged Pilsner glass. Having spent two weeks in the US recently and drinking overly hopped IPA’s, this came as a wonderful suprise, it is about 100% better than anything I had in the US, stuff those Arogant Bastards at Stone, those Hopped Stoopid guys at Lagunitas, I wouldn’t give Rogue anytime let alone 60 or 90 minutes. This beer is just miles ahead in flavour, why are you people in the US so aggressive with your hops? No need at all. The aroma from this wonderful beer, like the taste was a hop orientated true IPA. The colour was almost lager pale gold, but not quiet. Pale, Lager and Crystal malts are used. These are supplimented with torrefied wheat, Progress, Mount Head and Styrion Golding hops. Before anyone else in the US tries to make an IPA, Double/triple/quad/etc, etc, IPA they should have this beer first. The amazing thing about this beer is: it is a supermaket cheapo.

To be fair this beer was about 6 months past BB. A smelly, slightly skunked note runs right through the palate and does take away from otherwise is a nice minerally, chalky flavour, albeit very very light in terms of weight. Will look at again with a bottle in better nick.

500ml bottle. Pours a clear mid-gold, with next to no head, and consequently quite poor lacing. Hints of honey appear on the nose, with some faint citrus hops. Mild resin hops are present to begin, but the watery nature of this beer overcomes them soon. There is perhaps a hint of caramel in the finish, but again, the beer is far too watery for it to be terribly noticeable. This beer is far, far too watery on the palate. What flavour it has is washed away in the tsunami of watery nothingness. I wouldn’t bother with it again.

Bottled. Golden, small to average and mostly diminishing head. Light to moderate malty sweetish aroma, fruit and honey, light citrus hoppyness. Light to moderate sweetish malty body, fruit and honey with toffee, light citrus hoppyness. Finish is malty and sweetish, short to average duration. Great balance between aroma and taste, but body is quite weak and too sweet for my taste.

Bottled. A golden beer with no head. Citrus and cardboard compete for dominance in this bitter beer. Good points and bad points obviously. Passable but never satisfying.

Bottle. Golden beer with a light head. The aroma is plainly dry, and the flavour is yeasty and dry. Overall a low quality yeasty, dry and gasey beer.

500ml bottle. Medium sized head sits atop an amber base. Low carbonation with a lemon zesty aroma which is pleasant enough. Light refreshing citrus flavour with a mild bitterness that makes it easy to drink.

50cl bottle, CM Vantaa. Pours clear golden color with a small white head that quickly dissapears. Aroma is hoppy and sweetish. Fruity flavour, honey and citrus. Some citrus also in finish, ends quite bitter. Light and refreshing.

pours a light straw colour with a thin white head. nice and light on the palate, bitterness quite plesant, very drinkable on a warn summers day...

Pah. Honey on sugared pastry aroma, with some sherbet and lemon soapiness creeping in; meagre tack of hopcone, maybe watermelon. Horrible papery mush and egg goo initially, redeeming itself slowly with...uh, bathsuds, cardboard and pine needles. Carling yellow, honeyed metal, no life....certainly not a ’light aromatic ale’, although it is pale as piss. Some cheap sherbety conifer notes, as in a nasty tinned 30c Czech lager. Cream, honey and pastry afters. Generic Euro meets Black Country blandness, labelled ’IPA’. Are they tryin to wind me up? At least they’ve got the decency to suffix that with ’..Export Bitter’. I should think so. Criminal misuse of Mount Hood. Alright, there is some faint pine and melon there. It’s growing on me..